Comcast Data Usage Meter Begins Rolling Out To Customers

[onehandle]

Starting today, Comcast subscribers in the Portland OR pilot market area will begin receiving notifications that they can access a usage meter via their online accounts to help avoid data overage charges.

"For the fraction of less than 1% of our customers who are concerned about exceeding our excessive use threshold, this meter will help them monitor and calibrate their usage. It may also help them identify potential problems such as the presence of a bot or virus or excessive use of their bandwidth via an unsecured wireless router.

What's unique about this meter is that it measures all data usage over a cable modem. So, if a customer is using multiple computers and other devices, such as an online gaming console, laptop, or additional wireless devices (such as an iPod Touch), the meter will report data usage for all of those computers and devices combined."

This development has been a long time coming for Comcast power users who have been relying on third party bandwidth meters in an attempt to avoid exceeding the monthly 250 GB data cap. Unfortunately, the"short" trial has to wrap up in Portland before Comcast starts rolling it out nationally.

http://gizmodo.com/5416268/comcast-data-usage-meter-begins-rolling-out-to-customers

Comcast must be crushed

Too Big to Block? Why Obama Must Stop the Comcast-NBC Merger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-silver/too-big-to-block-why-obam_b_356826.html

TAKE ACTION: Tell Washington to Stop This Merger »:
http://freepress.net/comcast

[tridim]

1. And Comcast morphs into AOL cir. 1994.

:eyes:

Really, really lame Comcrap. I will never pay for my Internet access by the minute.

[Go2Peace]

5. what is wrong with limiting people who run bittorent all day long?

I don't quite understand why a few people should be able to overload the net? I have no problem with this as long as it is simply to keep the few people who overload the system, as long as it is for that purpose and not to cap in general broadband. And I am not convinced it is.

I have comcast, and I have never had a problem with them trying to limit me. I think the only people they are going after are those who try to use their pipe like a server farm. I agree with that, because I pay for the service too and I want to be able to use it to watch a movie or download programs without hitting congestion.

Now I am not a comcast apologist, I have a other things I don't like that they do, but I think this is legitimate. Good luck if they try to use to to go to a "by the bit" model. It will not be successful, especially in Portland where there are alternatives.

This is a typical "commons" issue, if you don't have rules, a few people will break them and destroy the "commons" for the rest.

[tridim]

7. Good points, but I still fear pay-per-bit.

Comcast and other providers know they'll make a ton of profit if they can get away with it using the "commons" excuse.

[Go2Peace]

13. There is a ton of competition now entering the portland market

I doubt they would be doing it to impliment "pay by bit" access. I really think they are trying to maintain QOS. They may be able to get away with per bit service in smaller markets but it simply won't happen in Portland.

[wroberts189]

19. If you buy a 3MB line you should be able to use 3MB 24/7...

Whether its bittorent ,Hulu ,or youtube..or whatever.


If they bought enough upstream bandwidth to support what they are selling you no one would slow down.

[onehandle]

24. We have a 20MB account that usually runs at 28-32GB.

My wife works for her mega-corporation at home and needs the speed.

If Comcast ever slows down our connection, I would raise bloody Hell.

[Lance_Boyle]

21. because those people bought an UNLIMITED connection

Comcast can change its terms after the fact, but it is shitty of them to do so. and I bet they STILL advertise an "unlimited" connection when what they're selling is this capped crap. They need to be zapped for false advertising.

[Go2Peace]

6. I want to add I *do not* support the merger.

I wonder why the administration has not started strengthening limits on media consolidation yet?

[depakid]

2. Oh that's going to be real popular in a open source techie town like Portland

Just asking for trouble, too.

[Romulox]

8. PCs ain't free in Portland. Neither is bandwith. nt

[Occulus]

11. Actually, bandwidth *does* seem to be "free" in Portland:

http://www.wifipdx.com/

Citywide wifi. Wish we had that here....

[Go2Peace]

14. exactly. This is about QOS, not pay per bit

There is too much competition in Portland.

Now might they be wanting to keep quality of service up because they see challenges ahead in the portland market? That would seem to be what they are likely up to.

[cascadiance]

15. Hah! One more reason to stick to Dish Network here in Portland!

Comcast has been spamming me heavily to go to them here, but I tell the guy coming to my door that what matters more to me is whether or not they get Free Speech TV or LINK TV, which they don't. All of those extra channels from the same set of mega companies have no interest to me, if all they are is garbage. Now they want to try to meter me as well? NO THANKS!

[Romulox]

27. Sure, if you buy a $5 latte and a scone...

Not citywide, according to their map.

[depakid]

22. lots of things are...

Open source has been a mantra in this town.

[Romulox]

28. Open source has not a thing to do with who pays for bandwith. nt

[napi21]

3. What;'s with thelimit on usage? I don't understand?

I don't have my internet cable through Comcast, but with another cable co. I've never heard of "excessive use"! I leave my computer on 24/7, stream radio all the time & spend a whole lot of time playing games, writing on DU, and gathering info on all kinds of things. I have no clue how much bandwidth I use nor do I care. So what's with Comcast saying their customers can be excessive users?

[Occulus]

9. You would be very surprised at how much data that can add up to.

I was watching YouTube last night, and was grabbing all sorts of HD videos and such. Then I played Left 4 Dead 2 (grab the demo free on Steam if you like zombie movies, Left 4 Dead 2 is just da bomb), read DU for a while, and hopped on iTunes to grab apps for my ipod.

Then I looked at how much I had downloaded from the time I had rebooted that afternoon. Upward of 4GB. I was astonished, but at 1M/second or higher, that's not an unreasonable total for what I was doing. And I wasn't using bittorrent, and I wasn't at Hulu, and I didn't download a linux distro or whatever.

It really adds up in a short period of time.

[onehandle]

12. 250 GB. BitTorrent users are the target, but in reality this is about raising prices down the road

Comcast is salivating over the idea of charging us by the minute and by the data usage like cell phone companies do.

Comcast is getting out of control.

[napi21]

16. That was my first thought! If they're limiting data usage,

that had to mean they were already charging for whatever is over their limit! I have my service through Charter and AFAIK there is NO LIMIT! YET!!!!

[Go2Peace]

17. How cable works...

DSL has a natural regulating component. Only your traffic rides on the line to the central dslam. So it is difficult for you to cause problems with the service of your neighbors.

Cable works differently. You all share a common line. It is quite difficult to manage, when a few people overwhelm the line, everyone suffers. It is absolutely true that on a cable line, if someone pushes the limit constantly, they screw their neighbors.

I pay for that service too and I am all for using QOS. Some people just don't care how they may impact everyone down the line. Making them pay above a cap will make them more aware of their use.

This is in portland, if they do try to limit everyone they will suffer, but I do think it is really just aimed at a relatively small number of users who abuse the bandwidth.

My understanding is also, that the idea is if you go over the 250GB you don't start paying more, your traffic simply gets lower priority. That is where I heard they are trying to go to.

[jtrockville]

31. ^ That's a good reason to switch to Verizon's FiOS if you can.

Verizon keeps the fiber pipe wide open. NO LIMITS (except for the speed package you subscribe to).

[wroberts189]

20. They save money by selling you bandwidth but not buying enough of their own to support it. nt

[Kalyke]

4. Comcast sucks!

I'm so glad I have the Knology choice in my area.

[NC_Nurse]

26. +1

They do indeed.

[apnu]

29. Sure they do, but for me its them or RCN...

... and RCN sucks just as bad as Comcast. So I have little choice, I can choose "suck" or "suck"

[WinkyDink]

10. I don't have any "excess usage" monitor, I don't think. RCN, PA.

[orwell]

18. 250 GB is a lot...

...I work with a 5GB cap on my Verizon broadband account.

[onehandle]

23. I installed a program over the Internet a few weeks ago. It was almost 6GB.

I probably download a gig of audio and video on a daily basis. Not BitTorrent but Hulu, iTunes podcasts, internet radio etc.

I rarely hit 250GB in one month, but that limit will be useless with more and more HD users out there.

[jtrockville]

30. Are you the only 'net user in your home? Got teenagers?

Teenagers can consume bandwidth like nobody's business. For a single person, 250 GB per month might be adequate. Not sure if it's adequate for a family.

[orwell]

32. I run a computer business out of my home...

...the other person who lives here is a textile designer.

We usually use 3 - 3.5 Gig. (That includes uploads.)

250 Gig is a lot.

[dembotoz]

25. that would be wireless

and when you bought it, the person selling it to you was supposed to warn you about things you could/couldn't do to stay under the 5 gb limit.

What gives me pause is how all the competitors keep pushing bigger and bigger broadband pipes.
Suddenly a t-1 does not seem that fast anymore.

A business that was thrilled with a tiny dsl a couple years back is not looking at multiple bonded t-1s.

So you convince everyone to do everything in the cloud-networking, computing, storeing data, using voice, using video and then suddenly you start to ration it out.
wtf????????????????????????????????